Monthly Archives: January 2013

Welcome to Friday Links for the 4th week of January. It was a memorable week for national reflections and looking forward, as we began with celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday and watching the second inauguration of Barack Obama.

The work-week since then has been a blur. Great conversations with so many of you, trading notes about your projects for the January Challenge, blogging about mine… and of course, getting it started.

It has, therefore, been a slower week for fiction. But those hours in the morning still found some great reading moments.

Here are some of the links I’ve found worth sharing. A few regular visitors — especially those who worried they were not “on time” in starting the January Challenge — will find the first link intriguing. Don’t put off reading that one!

You may have noticed from my January Challenge strategy lists, I am all for tricks that harness (not fight) the energy of our natural tendencies. Wittily written and extremely insightful, this New York Times article by John Tierney presents research demonstrating how the energy of procrastination can be effective fuel (yes!) for getting things done. Quoting Robert Benchley, “The psychological principle is this: anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.” I highly recommend this one!

Once you’re over procrastinating, here’s one for getting the end written. Many workshops focus on opening pages. Last summer I focused on character. Lots of folks talk about analyzing plot points. Sooner or later, those of us tying up a final draft need to get around to writing an ending that lives up to the rest of the book. In this post, Sierra Godfrey offers a valid checklist of what this scene must accomplish.

Are you done — or nearly done with that novel draft? Here’s a great article from Writer Unboxed, by Jael McHenry, who focuses the challenging process of polishing a novel draft to address a handful of key threads. Offers some interesting insights.

With the end written and draft polished, it’s time to sweat whether an agent will bite on your query. As I became a fan of Twitter, one of the best series I followed was agent Sara Megibow’s weekly #10queriesin10tweets. Each week, she’d pull 10 queries from her in-box, summarize the pitch with her verdict (pass, request partial or occasionally (9 out of 32,000 queries in 2012) signed). Fabulous glimpse into an agent’s thinking — but, gasp!, Sara announced recently, “I feel like I’ve said all I need to say about queries, so it’s time to move on.” No need for disappointment — on January 10th she premiered her new series using the hashtag #5pagesin5tweets. Rather than the query, she is addressing partial submissions she has received. As with the prior series, she summarizes the author’s approach with a verdict (request full or pass) and why. To access, click the link, or enter the hashtag in a Twitter search or feed browser.

[Note: if you would like to find more discussions like this on Twitter, let me know in the comments, as I have more hashtags to share. You can find me on Twitter at elissafield.]

It’s not a question I’ve asked (I do a bit of both) — yet, this 2-part article from The Open Notebook blog addressing the question posed during a Johns Hopkins University masters in science writing forum is a fascinating look at how to know if you are natively an editor or natively a writer.

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These are in my “active reading” stacks, bridging my reading lists from summer into fall, 2012. (The porcelain boxer has run through three generations in our family – as has the breed.) c Elissa Field

What are you reading this month?

That’s a question I’m wondering this week, as it seems time to compile another seasonal reading list. I have some great purchases still waiting to be read, that will roll over from last summer or fall — but I am curious, too, for new recommendations.

What are you reading, what new releases are you curious about, or what would you recommend?

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Time to launch Part 2 of the January Challenge — starting one new project from your 2013 goals!

Today’s kick-off addresses claiming time and selecting which project to start.

But first, for anyone who hasn’t read previous posts: the January Challengearose because many of us have competing goals we want to tackle in 2013. To get the year started, I applied strategies from freelance writing (and teaching and parenting…) to stoke projects in various stages and keep progress moving forward.

Each week of the challenge focuses on finishing one thing (last week), starting one thing (this week), improving one thing, then evaluating and planning the next step.

Links to prior posts are embedded in today’s kick-off where relevant — or find them all at the bottom of this post.

Join the challenge at any timeand adapt it to fit your needs. If you join in — even well past the end of January — let us know what you are working on or the kind of strategies that work for you. If you blog about it, please share link to the challenge (you can use the JC badge, if you want to be festive), and share link to your post in the comments below.

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Week 2 Launch: Start Something

I mentioned last Monday, the challenge in starting is sometimes the pressure to finish a lingering project first (read more on that here).

I’ve felt that way this week: I need to start production of this literary magazine, but ideas for revising my novel jump into my head (“finish something”), my reliable truck spent the week in the shop having its fuel pump replaced (“improve something”), and I’ve had to drop everything to attend meetings to plan events later in the semester or next year (“evaluate and plan“).

Too often, the project you need to start is like a guy trying to elbow his way to place an order at a crowded bar, vying to get the barkeep’s attention.

This week’s first motivator: give yourself permission to claim the time. Don’t wait to be less busy. Steal a chunk of time to get going, right now. Well. Finish reading this, then go.

Part of the pressure in starting something new is the feeling you have to set aside something else to do it. Not necessarily. You can continue using strategies to tinker with other projects, even as you focus on starting your new one. I’ll post more later, but here are a couple strategies from Week 1:

In talking to friends, most have several things they want to start in 2013. For this challenge, pick one. Don’t stress: you can start one now and start another one a couple months from now, or string several small starts to quick finishes. The key is to stop waiting and jump in.

My goal is to start production of the literary magazineI have to produce for 150 writing students, which needs to be printed and delivered by the end of May.

If that were not mandatory, here are some of the other projects I could imagine taking on — which might be similar to your goals.

Apply for acceptance to a conference, workshop or MFA program. Summer programs like Bread Loaf, Sewanee, Tin House or Grub Street will announce programming and accept applications now through March. (check my links page for more info)

Begin final revisions of a novel manuscript. Revisions might be “improving” or “finishing,” but this step is also the beginning of a new process, including new formatting, finding beta readers, finding agents and beginning querying, or learning the self-publishing process.

Begin an online business. Several outlets allow for uploading materials I (or any of you) could market, and it’s the next step in projects I share with peers.

Beginnings in your day job or personal life are fair game. The literary magazine will parallel projects in your day job or for a freelance client. Same goes for projects like looking for a house, starting a job search, planning a wedding, getting ready for a baby.

How Do I Decide Which to Start?

My reflections on 2012 revealed that I’ve made my way through some challenges in recent years. One of the ‘rules’ that led to my best progress is: Do first the thing that will make your life better tomorrow.

Ask yourself, for any project you consider taking on: will my life be better when this is done, or more of the same? What you start today is an investment in what your life will look like next week, next month and beyond. If deciding between projects, do first the one that gets you closer to your overall goals. This might include:

Honor deadlines. Start first any projects where you committed to a fixed deadline.

Invest in tasks that empower you or give you more options. If you need to be employable, start a course that buys you credentials, certification or street cred, rather than one that’s just for fun.

Plant seeds for future success. Market now for clients you will need in the summer. Build your website or social platform now for the novel you’ll need to market next year. Submit stories, then wait for replies while working on your novel.

Take the first step in big projects. Some starts are just that first step on a big project. My litmag, for example, was really started with mock-ups and volunteer meetings and soliciting work last fall. Grad school starts with investigating programs or soliciting recommendation letters. You might only tackle this one step for now, with other steps taking place much later.

Did you try the 3-column to-do list in this post, to identify obstacles preventing you from moving forward? If so, consider starting a project that removes an obstacle. Start a task that increases income if lots of your projects are held back by a lack of money. While you might normally fight for time to work on your novel, starting a client project (or spring cleaning and yard sale) might allow you to replace your laptop — in turn, letting you work more on your novel.

Certain goals take priority in the category of: “Twenty years from now, you’ll regret more the things you didn’t do than those you did” (attributed to Twain, repeated by many). For those trying to finish a novel, prioritize that. It takes a long time to go from draft to edited and published copy in a reader’s hands; invest in getting closer to that. Every day you put off starting puts that end goal that much further out of reach. Other intangibles — like foreign travel or falling in love or dropping everything to play with your kids — fall in this category.

Protect the status quo. As with honoring deadlines, be sure to start projects that keep good things present in your life, like maintaining a healthy client relationship or success in your job.

Peace of mind counts. All this talk of improving life for tomorrow doesn’t mean you can’t have “start an herb garden” or “organize family photos” as your challenge this week. Will you feel better tomorrow for having done it? Go for it.

Your task for today is to select what you want to start.Share your goal in the comments if you want us to cheer you on. Tweet your goal with hashtag #januarychallenge or blog about it and share your link below.

Here’s what I’m wondering, for the next post: What keeps you from starting a project that is important to you? Are you unsure what to do first? Are you afraid it won’t go well? Do you need resources, materials or answers before you can start?

Now, go!

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Welcome to Friday Links for the third week of January. For me, it has been a week busy with the beginning of a new semester, including getting to work on production of my students’ annual literary magazine. I’ve also been thrilled with some of the work coming out on my novel draft, Wake(shared last Saturday, here).

Writing mornings include reading, and here are some of the links I’ve found worth sharing!

Deputy Editor of the New York Times Book Review, Joel Lovell, writes a fascinating discussion with George Saunders (“more or less universally regarded as a genius”), which opens with an amazing reflection on the awareness that comes from a recent proximity to death — and wouldn’t it be amazing if we could walk around with that kind of awareness all the time.

Thanks to Gerry Wilson for sharing the link to this New York Times essay by Peter Orner — whose images of confession and truth and ensuing emotion really do haunt. Together with the Saunders interview, these two articles made for a great reading morning.

Thanks go to Sarah Turnbullfor sharing this link. As I drafted Wake, through much of 2012 the posts I shared had to do with developing character. But, at some point, as your novel draft takes shape, what you are looking for is an understanding of the story line, and talk turns to analyzing plot. This link is to Lydia Sharp’s post which demonstrates story structure by breaking the first act of a movie into opening, inciting incident, catalyst, etc. The expression “instinctively preserves her self-concept” perfectly triggered my morning writing, as I closed a gap in understanding of my character’s early motivation.

Gee, you know what I just did? Subscribed to a series of free masterclasses with Toni Morrison, Nora Ephron, Rita Dove and more, via iTunes! The Creative Writing: A Master Class link takes you to the full list of courses offered via iTunes Academy of Achievement. Each “course” is an audio or video podcast on craft from some of the masters of fiction, poetry and memoir. For me, these are a welcome download for listening in the car or when too tired for reading before sleep, or as a morning warm-up. For a more complete summary: I first read about this in Fordham MFA candidate Josh Jones’ post on Open Culture.

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It’s January! Everyone is talking “new beginnings” — so what a perfect time for some fabulous children’s reading spaces in this month’s Living With Books!

For those of us who love books, reading is often a charmed and mystical memory from our childhood. We remember the first book we fell in love with, or a favorite place where we loved to read. It was a magical thing to get lost in the other world of a book. In these pictures, designers, librarians and parents create that sense of fantasy in reading spaces for children.

Is this all just cutesy? Is it just over-the-top catalog art?

Each month, I work with students on their independent reading goals and can say that, by sixth grade, at least a third of the kids come to me knowing how to read, but telling me they don’t like to read. This will be a challenge, as so much of their learning in the years ahead of them depends on reading. Plus, I can’t help feeling frustrated with them — as a child who doesn’t like reading most likely hasn’t hit on that one magical book, yet. On the other hand, I like to tell kids that famed YA writer Rick Riordan confesses he didn’t like reading until he was 13. For him, discovering mythology was transformative.

My oldest son now falls asleep reading every night — at 11, eager to dive back into the story he left off earlier in the day. But not long ago he hated reading — despised it, fought with tears running. Books were always present in our house, but buddy-reading through a couple great ones (Roland Smith’s Elephant Runwas the first slam dunk!) communicated that reading was a shared hobby in the same way we might watch a movie together.

Fostering excitement about books and reading has the power to transform a reluctant reader. For those of us who grew up Living with Books, the presence of books in our homes taught us early to expect them to have value in our lives. The charming spaces pictured convey that joy to children who are just discovering the magic.

This bedroom bookhut (or igloo) was designed by Ben Nagaoka. Topped with a roof of felted tiles, shelves of books form a cozy reading wall around a hidden bed. In a survey titled Hot or Not, Apartment Therapy features more pictures of the book igloo, inside and out.

Of course, designing for children’s books need not be anything fancy nor anything permanent. Simply including shelves or baskets of books in a children’s space allows room for their reading interest to grow.

For young children or toddlers: baskets or buckets put picture books in easy reach. Favorite board books can be kept by the bed for nighttime reading. Try Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Gorilla, or my favorite: Corgiville Fair.

As children grow, share their old favorites. Make room for new reading by gifting their old books to last year’s preschool or kindergarten teacher, or younger cousins.

For upper elementary or middle grade students, encourage them to get “great read” recommendations from their friends. If they say, “There are no good reads,” then ask for recommendations from someone excited about middle grade novels, like their teacher, librarian or me!

I began this month by proposing the January Challenge (finish something, start something, improve something, then evaluate & plan where to go next) not because it was the logical way of doing things but because, for many of us who are writing, each of our goals shares our attention with multiple competing tasks.

If we want to start that novel revision, we first have to finish this project for our day job. If we want to get started with story submissions, we first have to finish revising. As I addressed in 15 Strategies for Finishing Work last week, much of what we do involves time management of competing priorities.

It just dawned on me to say: I learned this cycle by freelance writing.

Considering the interest many of you expressed when I blogged about day jobs, today is a reflection on why the finish-start-improve-plan cycle is so important to making progress as a writer.

Most of my freelance jobs evolve into long-term roles, with enough work and pay to become my sole client. Still, others involve sporadic projects with clients not sure of their own goals, projects too small to be substantial income, or even an occasional client who was slow to pay. For anyone considering freelancing, know that continually stoking the fire for new work is part of the weekly task list.

So it was from freelancing that I learned the overall writing skill: that a productive writing business involves constantly feeding the 4-step cycle of finishing, starting, improving and planning.

It’s illogical: why do I put finish before start, or before plan?

This week I covered a friend’s 4th grade class one morning and, as I presented her lesson on the animal lifecycle with the circular cycle of egg-chick-chicken-egg… I was reminded why I list finish before start.

Yes, on day one — like that “START HERE” space on a board game — you begin with “plan” and “start.” But there’s only one “start here” space on that gameboard, and most of us are not really on day one of our writing.

Most of us have a half dozen or so projects floating (overlapping writing and family and clients or day job, etc. projects) so taking a valid, productive step forward with our writing involves getting something else finished and out of the way, first.

I can get started with submitting my writing, but maybe I need to finish revision first. I can start with revising my novel, but I need to finish last week’s day job project first. I can start an idea for a novel, but maybe I needed to clear away holiday-vacation emails from clients first. I can start with my big project (the literary magazine) this week, but needed to finish last week’s grading and semester planning first.

The Key: Stoking All 4 Steps of the Cycle

What is most important is this single concept: once these 4 steps rotate into a cycle, notice the overlap of planning your next steps, finishing remaining work, and starting something new.

Before you even finish one project, you should have been evaluating and planning for the next project you will be starting. My husband was a pharmaceutical rep and, in sales, they referred to this as “pipeline.” You have what you can finish today, but have already planned and seeded what you will do next, with your next project ready in the pipeline.

In freelancing, this meant I had already been marketing for new clients before I approached the end of a project. In fiction, it might mean having short stories submitted to literary magazines then start work on revising that novel while you’re waiting to hear back. It might mean, as you head toward finishing that novel draft, thinking ahead to what will be needed to connect with agents — maybe anticipating summer writing conferences or learning how to write a query.

A Little of Each, Every Day (or Week)

Although I set up the January Challenge to address one step of the cycle for each week of this month, I kept my freelance business going by addressing all 4 steps of the cycle every week, if not every day.

Every week I had a task list of steps needed to complete a current project. I evaluated and planned what was needed for that publication, as well as where the next job would come from. I scheduled steps to get the next project going (if with the same client) or took marketing steps to keep the pipeline fed. I improved the functioning of my business (sent invoices or reorganized or tweaked my (now offline) website). A little of each, every week, kept the machine constantly fed and moving productively forward.

In truth, particularly when I became a mom, the economy crashed and other personal challenges made life more complicated, it was applying all 4 of these steps that has brought about my most successful moments. On the job or scrambling with kids or working to finish writing — attending to all 4 steps keeps progress moving forward.

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This Week: Begin Something

That said, this week of the January Challenge will focus on Starting Something New (link takes you to next week’s launch). In the meantime, think of a project you need to get underway to accomplish an important goal in 2013.

What do you have to begin in 2013?

Remember, this is a group challenge and we’d love to hear how it is working for you. What goals do you need to take on (this week, this month or sometime this year)? What strategies work for you? What obstacles keep you from getting started?

If you join in, we’d all love to hear how your challenge progresses: write about it on your blog (use the January Challenge badge if you’d like); include link to this original challenge, and be sure to come back here and share your link with us.

This week, the world has been pinging writing-triggers my way, like pebbles falling on a rooftop to claim my attention.

A dog slithered her way into my previously pet-less WIP — Valvoline, a little black collie, slippery as motor oil, persistent as memory. She is a stray who sidles in and out of scenes, tripping off my laconic main character’s inner dialogue.

I was revisited by flash memory of my grandmother’s wedding ring — which hid beneath a larger band, her original ring worn thin as wire by 53 years of marriage. More than once, that thin rose-gold band has crept its way into my writing. Remembering her hand conducting the air as she trilled along with an old song, her widowed ring became parallel to the gun my main character wears in a hidden holster. Which — I’ve slowly realized — is empty. His empty weapon found its parallel in the widowed wedding ring, and this small observed detail plants the seed of a hint that the woman he dates is a widow as well.

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Raw and unedited (and possibly doomed for deletion before the final draft), here is a bit from this morning’s writing.

I follow several international journalists, and part of my writing this morning was spurred by tweets amongst them about this week’s East Belfast riots. A picture posted by Belfast journalist, John Mooney (photo here), who was nearly trapped in Newtonabbey after last night’s riots, triggered dormant thoughts about memories my main character (Roonan) has of one of the mistakes in his life. Trigger was not the riot, but the image of a leafless tree against clouds of smoke.

When the explosion rang in his ears, Roonan ran first to where his brother had turned to face him. Looked for the startled, wondering face where it would have been in the remaining cloud. Searched for him in the crater blasted into the pavement, down into soil and rock below. Moved the car a distance, their mother’s sweater sliding back and forth across the empty seat, voices repeating, tormenting in the deafening ringing of his ears. Walked back to sit beneath a leafless tree, black lines of twigs drawn against the silken sky as riot police gathered behind an armored car. Wiped something from his face. Startled to know he’d been crying, tears muddying the faint grit and spray of red across his face. He’d run then – the slow, steady pace of a man intent on getting away, forcefully relaxing himself in order to disappear into a crowd.

It was the tree he remembered. Spindling black-twigged branches. Huddled, riot-armored men behind the huddled armored trucks, black shine of their helmets, round as his father’s crash helmet against the flashing lights. Agents milling through the lifting cloud like men on the moon. His brother no longer there. Slick slide of his mother’s cardigan across the seat. Ice-rush of water as he washed his face, changed his shirt. His mother no longer there.

Exaggerated, unworldly silence concussed his hearing. Like the moon. Like the moon. No matter the milling of people moving in curiosity down the street. No matter the diversion of men as he crossed back over the border. No matter the passing cars, the friendly, sorrowful wave of a neighbor as he turned back into Ridell’s main street, passing the grocer where she shopped, the post office where she’d mailed Stephen a package only last week, the shops where she’d just sent him with spare money she’d found to buy his brother longer jeans, now the youngest had grown so tall. No one on the moon. No one anywhere in Roonan’s ringing head. No one to ask him, What did you do?

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The second week of January means I began the week tying up last week’s semester and finished the week having started with a new group of writing students.It also means my sons are back in school, so I’ve had a few productive mornings writing before afternoon classes. Two great a-ha moments led to some great work, so I’m ending the week in a fabulous mood.

Writing mornings include reading, and here are some of the links I’ve found worth sharing! If you have an article you think I (or my readers) should see, share the link in the comments.

Ann had mentioned in May that she wrote an essay for Tin House outlining the dozen or so different ways she had identified that a writer can use to begin a story. Somewhere, on a fat, full legal pad, I have notes on all of them — but had been periodically checking Tin House for the full essay to post. Oh. Found it — ran in October — but it’s just a tease. Click through for this one piece on opening with dialogue. I’m pretty sure I’m going to want to buy the full collection of essays when it is published.

A title like that suggests lead-in to a Far-Side-esque joke about letters not up to snuff. No such gag. I dog-eared this article in fascination, as it shares the evolution that left certain letters out of our permanent alphabet, even as their sounds or symbols still linger. An interesting piece for all of us working with words.

As we start a year evaluating our goals, accomplishments and maybe even worth as a writer, this is a fabulous post at Writer Unboxed by Jan O’Hara. Applying medical wisdom (“If the results won’t change your treatment plan, don’t do the test in the first place.”), she offers thought-provoking inspiration.

Just as many of us are beginning the new year with goals that have us wondering how to carve more writing hours (or discipline) out of our days, Patrick Ross (an instructor at The Writing Center in Bethesda, MD, and blogger at The Artist’s Road) shares Kurt Caswell’s advice for using contemplative activities to create healthy writing practice. Taken from a lecture at Vermont College of Fine Arts, this short piece is just enough to get you inspired — but not keep you from your morning’s writing!

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